checking whether we are cross compiling... configure: error: in `/usr/armv7a-softfloat-linux-gnueabi/tmp/portage/sys-apps/groff-1.21-r1/work/groff-1.21/src/libs/gnulib':
configure: error: cannot run C compiled programs.
If you meant to cross compile, use `--host'.
See `config.log' for more details

Also, would it be possible or a problem to drop an armv7a stage3 in /usr/armv7-softfloat-linux-gnueabi? Would it overwrite existing files and screw things up?

I was able to get the Beagleboard to boot a stage 3 with an Angstrom kernel, but my BB only has 256M of RAM and cannot compile larger packages.

BTW, it is possible to extract a recent ARM stage3 within the new cross-compile environment and build on that. I was able to create a full Beagleboard bootable image from the stable stage3 and then 'upgrade' to ~arm on most packages.

It got a bit confusing trying to sync the bootable image with the /usr/arm-* environment though. Things like make.profile and make.conf needed some munging.

BTW, it is possible to extract a recent ARM stage3 within the new cross-compile environment and build on that. I was able to create a full Beagleboard bootable image from the stable stage3 and then 'upgrade' to ~arm on most packages.